MLB
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New Rules in 2020
There are a few new rules that will be implanted in MLB this season. Here are a few words on how those changes may affect the fantasy game. Unlike the past, when rosters expand in September teams will only grow to 28 players rather than swelling to 40. This should be a help in the Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Embrace Tommy John Surgery
Tommy John won 288 games over a remarkable career that lasted 27 years. However, he’s more well known for the surgery that bears his name at this point. Let’s explore the surgery, the reasons for it, and the players who are dealing with it heading into the 2020 season. Here are some facts that should Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Workload Increases: Innings and Pitches
I kid you not. I write this on Thanksgiving with the Bears/Lions game on in the background. Before dashing off to eat copious amounts of turkey, gravy and homemade stuffing (my brother makes some excellent grub), I thought I would write about consumption. Not of food of course, but about the consumption of pitches and Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
I Changed My Pitching Style
Sometimes a hurler takes the next step in his development and it seems fairly obvious what happened. Other times, the changes might a bit more subtle. Perhaps the pitcher pulled back a bit on a pitch that he was getting his brains beat out on. Maybe, he picked up a new pitch that gave hitters Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Saves: Let’s Move On
The Braves gave Will Smith a 3-year, $39 million contract that includes a $1 million buy out or a fourth year at $13 million. So, they invested at least $40 million, if not $52, in Smith. They also had to forfeit a draft pick to the Giants since they had extended a qualifying offer to Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Can We Improve Wins?
Just as I write every year about how to improve the situation with relievers (Let Us Finally Move On From Saves), I’ve tossed my hat into the ring giving it a shot to improve the situation for starting pitchers as well. Whereas I take aim each year at saves for relievers, I’m looking right at Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
BABIP and What It Means
Batting Average on Ball in Play, or BABIP, is a term that didn’t even really exist two decades ago. Today, you will see the term mentioned even in casual conversation with folks at a bar. It’s really taken off and became a rather normal part of the baseball lexicon, at least for some. That said, Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
The Importance of Pitcher Strand Rates
We all know by now, hopefully, the fact that ERA is an imperfect measure. It kinda gets you where you want to be, but not really. There’s a lot of white-noise in ERA, you’ve read about it through all the articles in our preseason product, and another aspect about the volatility is the impact of Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Draft And Hold Strategies
Fantasy baseball is officially a year-round game. A few years ago, we’d call anyone drafting football teams right after the Super Bowl absolutely nuts. These days, drafting Best Ball football teams four months before the season starts has become more the norm. It’s a similar phenomenon with our beloved pastime. Though I personally like to Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
Why Overall Rankings Are Useless
‘Ray, I can see the rankings but where is the overall rankings list, I can’t find it?’ You can look and look all you want but you will not find such a list. Why? This article explains why there is no need for the single most misleading piece of fantasy advice some offer to their Read More! You need a subscription to access this content. Choose from the following: VIP Memberships – Seasonal Annual Season-long content, draft guide, rankings, podcasts, and Discord access. $109.99 VIP Memberships – VIP Monthly Includes all plans: Seasonal, Daily, and Betting, plus exclusive tools and Discord. $99.99 NFL Memberships – NFL (All-In) $499.99 Already a member? Sign in.
2020 FSGA MLB Experts Draft
The Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA) held their annual Experts Fantasy Baseball Draft in Las Vegas on January 14th, 2020. Yes, we just completed a fantasy baseball draft in January. There are still free agents looking for teams, games haven’t started yet either, but we drafted our teams in the first experts fantasy baseball draft of 2020. How did…
2020: MLB Free Agent Signings
The long offseason leading up to the start of the 2020 baseball season is upon us. With the free agency period upon us, we thought it would be wise to put up a tracker so you can see where all those free agents will be calling him moving forward. Players are listed by position, and…
Ray’s Ramblings: 2019 World Series Wrap
The Nationals capped one of the most improbable runs to glory in the history of Major League Baseball. They are the champions after defeating the Astros. Ray will break down some of the numbers from the run to the title while also discussing the futures of Darvish, Encarnacion and Strasburg. Oh yeah, there’s also some stuff in here about…
Ray’s Ramblings: The Road Series
The World Series has been one of victories on the road leaving the hometown fans wanting more. Ray talks the first five games of the 2019 World Series. He will then discuss the venerable infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, who just keeps on hitting. WORLD SERIES – TEAMS The Nationals won two straight on the road. They hit .307 as a team.…
Ray’s Ramblings: Soto & This, That
Juan Soto turns 21 today, so in honor of that we will list some Soto facts. Shin-Soo Choo has surgery, but is still producing. K. Davis failed. Ellsbury is still getting paid. Stanton failed. J. Hicks is a free agent. Is Odor good or not? Who is Votto? A case of Who Am I? SERIES NOTE The last 11 teams…
Ray’s Ramblings: World Series, 2-0 Nats
The Nationals beat the two best starting pitchers in the American League to take a 2-0 series lead over the Astros. That’s a big hurdle for the Astros to try and overcome. The Yankees are all beat up. Hicks/Tanaka/Voit all are undergoing surgery, and does the Hicks news mean that Gardner will be back in ’20? NATIONALS LEAD WORLD SERIES…
Ray’s Ramblings: World Series Preview
It’s about time for the 2019 World Series to take off. Ray Flowers shares some thoughts on the Astros and the Nationals. He will also touch on some of the struggles of the Yankees before touching a bit on the performance of Miguel Cabrera and offering a glimpse into how he can still be a useful fantasy performer. NATIONALS Since…
Ray’s Ramblings: Altuve, An Evolution?
Jose Altuve used to be a speedy, slap hitting middle infielder who would swipe 30 bases while batting .300. He “fell” to .298 this season, which of course is fine and basically right on pace, but he stopped running (he had never failed to steal at least 17 bases before attempting just 11 steals this season – six successful).…
Ray’s Ramblings: MLB LCS Update
The Nationals made their first World Series by sweeping the Cardinals, with dominant pitching. In the American League, the Astros and Yankees had a weather issue that has delayed Game 4, and that has caused both teams to be able to juggle their starting rotation. ASTROS – LEAD THE YANKEES 2-1 Here is the schedule of the ALCS as…
Ray’s Ramblings: Playoffs, Balls & Mystery
Ray Flowers takes a break from all the fantasy football analysis to talk playoff baseball, what is going on with the baseball (has it changed?) and to take the time to compare two pitchers, viewed differently, that actually performed in a very similar manner in 2019. Can you guess who the two pitchers are? THE PLAYOFFS Jose Altuve is batting .370…
Ray’s Ramblings: Odd 2019 Leaders
Everyone knows who led the league in homers, runs batted in and strikeouts. But what about some of the more obscure leaders in 2019? Ray Flowers has a list of those types of players and their totals in a myriad of categories. HITTERS DOUBLES Nicholas Castellanos had 58, Rafael Devers 54, Xander Bogaerts 52. No one else had…
Ray’s Ramblings: MLB Arbitration in 2020
What is this whole arbitration thing with baseball players, and what kind of salaries are players looking at on those one-year deals for the 2020 MLB season? Ray will also give some thoughts about Clayton Kershaw. After another down playoff effort, has his story been written, that he’s great in the regular season but a choke artist in the…
Ray’s Ramblings: Who is #1?
#1 PICK – IS IT ACUNA I was asked on Twitter if Ronald Acuna will be the top pick in 2020. It’s certainly possible, and in fact it is likely to happen an awful lot. His power speed combo, going 40/35, certainly vaults him into consideration, especially since Mike Trout has averaged 19 steals the last three seasons. Note too…
Ray’s Ramblings: 2019 Award Winners
The regular season of baseball is done for 2019. Yes, it’s a sad time, though at least we have October baseball to tide us over until spring next season. As we wrap up the campaign, I thought it would be a good time to do two things. First, I gave my thoughts on the fantasy baseball awards in 2019.…